Money Raised, But Funds Still Needed to Preserve Town and Country Log Cabin

The $12,000 needed to prevent a log cabin on Conway Road from being demolished has been raised. However, additional donations are still needed.

As previously reported by Patch, aldermen were initially considering allocating $12,000 of city money for the removal of a log cabin found inside a Town and Country home scheduled for demolition.   (For instant news updates follow Patch on Facebook and Twitter.) However, at the end of November, Alderman Skip Mange decided to seek private funding for the $12,000 to disassemble the cabin at 13348 Conway Road reportedly build in 1854. The money was needed to remove the logs, catalogue them and store them at the city's Drace Park.  Mange said it's a way to preserve the city's history. That money has now been raised by private donations. Mange said the Town and Country Parks and Trails Foundation donated $4,000 dollars toward the cabin. He also…

• Photos (5)

What's Your Best April Fools' Prank?

Patch wants to know! Post it in the comments below.

Sunday is April Fools' Day and that's no joke.  According to History.com, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other as early as the 1700s.  The exact origin of the day, also called All Fools' Day, remains unclear, but some historians speculate that it dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.  Travel and communication was slow at the time, so people who were slow to get the news did not know know or failed to recognize that the start of the new year moved to January 1.  It's believed they continued to celebrate the new year during the last week of March through April 1 and became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.  …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Gabrielle Biondo

12:42 am on Monday, April 2, 2012

So.... I just had an April Fools' joke played on me!!! A friend texted me to see if I was busy covering the "big robbery." Of course, I was ready to start calling local police departments to find out about this robbery. Then she called me to tell me she was just kidding, there was no robbery, she just wanted to see how I'd react. NICE!!! She got me!:)   more ›

Discovering Thanksgiving: Separating Fact from Fiction

The romanticized image of pilgrims gathered around the table set with an oversized turkey and pumpkin pie is how we define Thanksgiving. In reality, venison along with lobsters and scrawny wild turkeys are the elements of Plymouth's 1621 feast.

"Visitors to Plimoth Plantation are often surprised when we don’t look like a Hallmark card, dressed in big hats and with buckle shoes," said Kathleen Wall, who oversees Plimoth Plantation’s colonial foodways programs. "They’re also surprised to learn that the 1621 Thanksgiving doesn’t resemble the holiday that’s celebrated today." In 1621, Thanksgiving was a harvest festival in the early fall, probably October. It celebrated the economics of having enough to eat, a serious concern for the settlers who nearly starved to death during their first year. Plimoth's harvest festival never was a day of thanksgiving; a day of thanksgiving was a religious day of prayer and fasting. Another historical fact that seems to upset visitors is that …

• Photos (4)

Manchester Historic Society Sets Goals For Upcoming Year

For many years, there have been plans to create a historic commercial district in downtown Manchester. Alderman in Historic Review Commission says it's time to get the ball rolling.

On a Friday afternoon, the less-than-a-mile stretch of Manchester Road between the Highway 141 overpass and Baxter Road is nothing but asphalt, packed with bumper to bumper, honk-happy cars. But more than 100 years ago, that stretch of Manchester was also a busy place. “The joke is that it used to take a day in horse to go from Manchester to St. Louis,” Ward 3 Alderman John Diehl said. “Today, it still takes a day.” Manchester Road, historically known as Route 66, was the primary path for those passing through Missouri from the east, some seeking fortune in the Wild West’s gold rush. What is today the city of Manchester was the last resting stop for many leaving the city of St. Louis as they headed west. Just like its road, the city of …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (2)

Manchester United Methodist Church Preserves Memory of Civil War Veterans

Civil war expert John Avery sheds light on area connections to the War Between The States and how that past could impact our future.

Manchester Road is a typical, bustling suburban street lined with a variety of modern attractions, so it is difficult to imagine that 150 years ago this road was frequently traveled by men fighting the bloodiest war in American history. “Manchester Road was a main East-West road that both Union and Confederate soldiers used,” local historian John Avery said. “It was not uncommon for a regiment or a small company to march through.” Civil War history is often relegated to classrooms and textbooks, but as Avery will quickly tell you, reminders of that dark period are all around us. Avery, along with Manchester United Methodist Church, is making sure that the soldiers who fought in that horrific war receive proper recognition. Four Civil War …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

VIDEO: WWII Veteran Honors Fellow Lost Submarine Men With Geneology Research

Paul Wittmer, Manchester resident and WWII Veteran, shares his passion for restoring the records of those lost in submarine battles.

World War II veteran, cancer survivor, author and Manchester resident, Paul Wittmer just released another book on geneology in July. Wittmer has a passion for tracing family history. In the above video, he tells Town and Country-Manchester Patch why he feels it's important to keep alive the memories of those lost during WWII. The 87-year-old WWII submariner shares his motivation in this day-in-the-life photo slideshow. Through his research, Wittmer has compiled records on more than 3,000 men lost in battle. Wittmer published his findings in several books available for purchased on his website. Besides restoring the records of his fellow submarine-men, Wittmer also writes about his adventures during the war. His most recent book, Spyron, …

• Videos (1)

Historical Society Revives in Town and Country

The Historical Society, legally formed in 2000, officially starts unveiling Town and Country's past.

Right off Interstate 270 and Clayton Road, Cedar Valley Road leads through a winding path of trees, tall homes, Drace Park and a no-outlet subdivision called Windmoor Place. A block before the road turns into a circle drive, there is a small, fenced in square lot of land, with weeds growing tall, the grass untrimmed and a small sign a few feet off the ground that reads, "German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery, 1849." In that lot are the bodies of nearly 216 people, most buried there in the late 1800s. Only two headstones and two benches made of cement accompany the dead in this seemingly forgotten place in Town and Country. With the help of the board of aldermen and other members of the community, former Town and Country mayor Skip Mange …

• Photos (6)

Town and Country Teacher Awarded Excellence in Teaching Grant

Janet Kieffer, a teacher at Town and Country's Churchill Center and School, was awarded a grant to help teach students about St. Louis architecture.

Janet Kieffer, a teacher at Town and Country's Churchill Center and School was awarded a grant to fund a project aimed at teaching students about St. Louis architecture. St. Louis-based Emerson awarded the grant to Kieffer as part of Emerson’s Excellence in Teaching/Gold Star Grant program, Emerson spokesperson Allison Olson said in a news release. The company said a total of six grants totaling $60,000 were recently awarded to area teachers as part of the program.  Kieffer is an art and remedial reading teacher for learning disabled students and received the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Award. Kieffer tells Patch she is receiving a $2,500 grant, which she plans to use for a hands-on, multisensory learning opportunity for students to …

• Photos (1)

Do It In A Day

Have a Slice of History in Kimmswick

This little river town is known as the place for eccentric shopping and giant slices of pie.

Kimmswick is a mere shadow of its former self, but what an interesting shadow. The town was founded 150 years ago and dozens of its oldest buildings have been restored into an eccentric shopping district. It’s also the home of the Blue Owl, a bakery and restaurant nationally famous for its towering pie. Kimmswick is about seven miles south of Arnold, off Hwy 61-67, in Jefferson County. It’s that same highway that almost killed this river town years ago. Kimmswick once thrived on traffic from steamboats that traveled up and down the Mississippi and from the Iron Mountain Railway, which both brought visitors from St. Louis. From 1880 to 1918 visitors poured into town to visit the “healing” mineral springs (now abandoned) and the Montesano …

• Photos (12)

Do It In A Day

Lewis and Clark Confluence at Historic Site, Tower

Visit the metro area’s newest landmark and see where Lewis and Clark started their great westward journey.

Take a drive to Illinois and see where Lewis and Clark really started their great westward expedition. The Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower and the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site are both located in Hartford, IL and when visited together are well worth the drive. The Confluence Tower stands 180 feet tall and overlooks the spot where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet. The nearby historic site has a museum and replica of Camp Dubois, where Lewis and Clark spent the winter before sailing down the Missouri River. Hartford is less than an hour’s drive from west St. Louis County. The two attractions are about a mile apart. What To See: The tower is made of two connected legs, one named for Lewis and the other for Clark. Guided tours …

• Photos (12)